Dr. Enmanuel Mercedes

is a licensed counseling psychologist in New Jersey and New York. For over 10 years, he has worked in various settings including medical centers, educational institutions, and in private practice. Dr. Mercedes has a specialty in working with individuals with anxiety and depression, ranging from the effects of daily stress to overwhelming emotional experiences. He has a special interest in working with couples dealing with relational problems, ranging from challenges with communication and trust to parenting-related issues. Dr. Mercedes is trained to work with children, adults and groups, teaching evidence-based skills to help people improve their lives and their relationships.

In addition, to providing client services, Dr. Mercedes is a dynamic speaker and educator. He has taught at Seton Hall University and John Jay College, as well as participated as a guest lecturer and speaker for many other institutions, including Rutgers University, Caldwell University, and Montclair State University. As a speaker, Dr. Mercedes focuses on inspiring his audience to live more purposeful and fulfilling lives by teaching them key principles necessary to gain mastery over their minds and emotions.

Dr. Mercedes earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at Seton Hall University, where he studied factors that impact academic success in college students. He completed an internship at The Veterans Administration Hospital in Brooklyn, NY, where he trained in, and worked providing psychological services to veterans who experienced traumatic events and or suffered from other mental health problems. Dr. Mercedes’ integrative approach draws from psychodynamic theory and CBT, while taking into consideration multicultural factors. He also trained in and incorporates a mindfulness based approach into his work.

Among other accomplishments, Dr. Mercedes is a Past-President of the Latino/a Psychological Association of New Jersey. Dr. Mercedes is a proud husband and father.

If you are like many Americans, you are concerned about the growing achievement gap between rich and poor children. It is the not-so-secret epidemic happening in plain sight. By 2020, more than 65% of American jobs will require at least a four-year college degree, meaning that less affluent children who are failing to do well in elementary and high school right now are preparing to be left out of economic opportunity and will continue the disastrous cycles of generational poverty, community violence, and mass incarceration.

Just as children suffering from chronic hunger are listless, lethergic, unfocused and thus have grave difficulty attending to a school lesson, so do children suffering from chronically low self-esteem experience similar challenges. Just as poverty is toxic to the child's brain, flooding cerebral areas essential for learning with the stress hormone/neuro-chemical cortisol, so is diminshed self-worth toxic to the mind and heart of a child.

Only moments before I had brought up the anecdote of my 7-year-old daughter’s experience at a spelling bee in which everyone won because the children who were not prepared to do well were given on-the-spot assistance from a teacher; I employ the anecdote as a vehicle to discuss my deep conviction that when we shield children from failure we are invariably denying them an opportunity for growth.